All posts tagged: eCommerce Web Design

For any business, whether brick and mortar or solely web based, choosing a content management system for your eCommerce store is a hot topic these days, and it’s critical to understand that they are simply not all created equal. Magento eCommerce is one of the more popular platforms available and has distinct features that make it a solid choice with companies reporting between a 10 to 80% increase in sales due to robust Magento functions. Users also consistently report good experiences with the ecommerce platform, and Magento’s growing popularity reflects this. While Magento can be built to suit any sized organization, according to Forrester’s Q3 report, Magento is aligned as a B2B leader for mid-sized business. With some of most advanced features that an eCommerce platform can offer, Magento’s enterprise-grade features provide the flexibility needed any need a business may have. Here are some of the reasons companies should optimize…

Because of size and reach, enterprise businesses must be equipped with a scalable and secure web presence to compete in their markets. As a result, new enterprise WordPress VIP and plugins are being developed to provide a more robust system and streamline processes for brands of all shapes and sizes. If you’re already an alternate free theme or third party theme for your WordPress site or another platform altogether, here’s are some strong reasons to invest in WordPress for enterprise. Digital Content Management Infrastructure Developing a custom theme will make it easier to build and manage your website. With a central content hub or decoupled CMS, you can customize the admin user interface to your company’s needs, you won’t have to waste time trying to figure out what to do or having to deal with an unintuitive setup. You can add shortcuts, tools such as Edit Flow and apps like…

Recent research about how small businesses use websites and social media suggests some striking trends: One in five small businesses use social media in place of a website, yet 24% of small businesses report that they do not have a formal strategy guiding their social media presence. The findings come from Clutch, a research and reviews firm based in Washington DC. “Sometimes business owners think web design is the last thing they need to think about,” says Vanessa Petersen, ArtVersion’s Executive Director of Strategy. “But once you make that decision to put in the work to [build a website], it’s amazing what it can do to ease some of the burdens of doing business.” One such burden is managing a small business’ online reputation, which is significantly easier when a small business manages their own website and tends strategically to their online presence overall. Build Trust and Credibility By providing…

Today, standard business operations increasingly exist primarily on digital platforms, challenging users’ relationships and interactions with an organization. Vital to a successful business, these channels must be recognized, developed and thoughtfully implemented. Acting as the fundamental delivery method of determining this engagement, the use of a digital strategy is essential for any organization. With the goal of brand awareness, increased outreach and market share gain, business owners make investments in these critical pursuits without having core strategies in place and even more worrisome – jumping into resource draining marketing plans that simply don’t align with their business goals or brand messaging. Often marketing, design and sales departments operate in linear motion with only a few essential cross functional touch-points along the way. This results in duplicate activities, watered down results and a disjointed overall experience. So how can these efforts merge – allowing a digital strategy to align with business…

Achieving an optimal website design requires a strategy that aligns with the goals of the business it represents. When approaching web design, many jump right to the ‘design‘ portion. Thoughts of imagery, interactivity, and dynamic visuals come to mind. To attain the ideal UX, before entering this exciting design phase, the strategy and wireframing process should take place, with web designers taking a first step in projects through a layout strategy to suit the needs of the client and user. When discussing a site design, many think that a website is a one size fits all approach, and if not guided correctly, end up with an informational site that ends up having to be redesigned as soon as company needs change. Whether designer, developer, project stakeholder or client, it’s important to understand the technical aspects such as layout, wireframes, code, and content strategy and management. Understanding the process being entered…

For any business, whether brick and mortar or solely web based, ecommerce is the name of the proverbial game. Online sales worldwide have reached an all time high in the trillions and it’s clear that the majority of consumers do much of their shopping, if not all, online. This trend is only on the upswing, and with that, technological developments must keep up to meet the demand. In a traditional face-to-face commerce setting, the saying goes ‘the customer is always right’ (albeit, at times begrudgingly), and large retailers as well as single store owners adopted a high-level customer service atmosphere. Similarly, in a web based purchasing context, user experience has taken precedence and customers reign supreme. In an ecommerce environment, the stakes are that much higher. Consumers are already privy to competitive prices, they are highly educated about any given product and there is still the hangup for some that they…

For most companies, a corporate website is designed to provide information about to the public, prospects, customers, potential business partners and investors. Unfortunately, the language and web design tends to lose users as a result of the “corporate” design and language. This leads to users abandoning the website or feeling disconnected from your message. The solution then is to come up with engaging web design that makes users want to use and interact with the website, which would then get them to learn about and even associate favorably with your company. The first thing you can do is to use storytelling. The magic of using stories is that it draws people in as opposed to something like a mission statement where people feel like you’re lecturing them. Storytelling can be used through words and pictures, so you want to make your corporate story a part of your design while using…

The world of eCommerce solutions has been crowded for a while. Businesses can choose from custom proprietary shopping carts, hosted ecommerce solution and of course our favorite open source solutions. There are positives and negatives like in anything else and choosing the backend for your store is no easy task. In the open source work Magneto is being used more often than any others for some specific reasons we will cover bellow. Usability, available extensions, and the ability to scale up as your business grows. While other solutions may be easier to use for beginners, Magento is a great choice for those who have a realistic plan for sustained growth. There are couple different options in Magento world, but will will be focusing here on open source commerce. Usability The Magento back end can be intimidating to the new users. It may not be as intiuitive as other solutions, but it…

Mobile browsing has become the fastest way for consumers to access the web. As the mobile world continues to grow more and more consumers are strictly using mobile devices to purchases items rather than taking the time to fire up their computers. By 2013 mobile devices will pass PCs and become the dominate format for accessing the web. Furthermore, the question you should be asking is if your e-Commerce site is set up for the mobile use? E-commerce websites are setup for companies to promote as well as sell their products to consumers without having them call or go into one of the designated store locations. The web world is now expanding into mobile devices, and having a site that supports your commerce and is appropriately displayed on mobile devices is becoming crucial for companies to have. When establishing a mobile commerce (m-Commerce) site there are a couple different approaches…

One way to quickly to lose potential customers from your online store is with confusing UI design. Whether you have an affiliate shop that looks too similar to the original, you don’t customize your software to give the visitor an unique user experience or you use unprofessional graphics because you didn’t think you could afford professional eCommerce web design, you’re hurting yourself in the end. Can You Afford Professional Web Design? The one thing that puts many website and small business owners off from hiring someone to create a custom eCommerce Web design is price. However, you’ll find that eCommerce web development is more affordable than you expected. Think About User Interface Design An important aspect of designing for any website is user experience, which is all about the user experience. A few years ago, websites looked really cool, but it made it more difficult for the visitor to navigate and…